


Promise

by Confetti94



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: I guess minor but just in this story otl, Minor Character Death, One Shot, Slight :re spoilers, There is no romance between Hinami and Kaneki god why, Touka and Haise are briefly in here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 02:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4287315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Confetti94/pseuds/Confetti94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I had a nightmare,” Hinami blurts out. “It was about my mom.”</p>
<p>In which Hinami has a nightmare, and Kaneki does his best to comfort her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise

_He remembers the sickening bolt of adrenaline and fear that pumped through his veins the moment he realized that he’d been betrayed. Again._

_The lights that illuminated the stage - battlefield? - were too bright (too bright he can’t see) which made his head pound (his heartbeat, his heart is racing he can’t **see** ) and his eyes dilate to pin points._

_The people (ghouls, he knows they’re all ghouls) in the stands above his head are staring at him expectantly (what’s he supposed to be doing?) and he needs to run he needs to get away_

_Their focus is on him and he doesn’t like that they need to stop he doesn’t want this he (can’t not again)_

_He doesn’t know why he trusted Tsukiyama. He doesn’t know why he trusts anybody_

_”Kaneki,” the purple-haired fucker sing-songs to him, making his shudder violently (he’s not going to think about it ignore him he’ll go away they all will you’re not here **you’re not here** )_

_“Kaneki,” he says again, and it’s louder, shut up shut up **shut up**_

“Kaneki?”

He jolts awake, sitting up quick as lightening. His hands are closed tight around the fabric of the futon he’s sitting on. Breathing raggedly, he twists around, searching for the source of the voice.

It’s not Tsukiyama or Touka that peers back at him, but rather Hinami, clutching a blanket and a small stuffed cockatiel in her hands. He blinks hard, then realizes he probably looks like a mad man and shakes his head, trying to calm his breathing.

“Hinami? What are you doing awake?”

She looks him over, eyes wide with concern, and she tilts her head like she’s about to ask him something. However, her expression smooths out and she looks down at her feet sheepishly.

“I…um,” she starts, almost too quietly for Kaneki to hear. He leans foreword slightly.

“It’s alright,” he says in a (more or less) calm voice. “You can tell me.”

“I had a nightmare,” she blurts out, clapping a hand over her mouth and jerking her head up to stare at him. He stares back.

This goes on for about two seconds before Kaneki realizes that _oh, it’s an implied question_ and he smiles lightly at her. He scoots over slightly and pats the empty space next to him on the couch.

“Would you like to sleep with me, then? If it would make you feel better?”

“Yes please,” she answers without hesitation, and he can tell that her mood brightens a little as she waddles over and crawls up next to him, wrapping her blanket around herself.

Kaneki has to adjust his position a few times so he doesn’t elbow her in the side, although she insists that he’s okay and that he isn’t bothering her. After a bit, she unravels (ha ha) her blanket and drapes it over the both of them.

It feels like hours before he starts to feel tired again, but he’s not sure that he wants to fall asleep again. He doesn’t want t _o dream ab **out**_ -

…he hears Hinami make a very small, almost inaudible whimper, and he feels his heartbeat race with pure concern. Kaneki almost reaches out to shake her awake before he sees that she isn’t actually sleeping, much to his surprise. She looks distant, and he thinks he can see tears welling up in her eyes. He shifts again so he can look her in the eyes directly.

“Hinami?”

She makes a noise that indicates she heard him, although she makes no attempt to look up at him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

That gets her attention.

She makes a small hiccupy sob and tilts her head to meet his eyes. Kaneki’s heart pangs with sympathy. She looks so upset and it physically pains him to see her like this. What did she _dream_ about? She nods, and another pained noise emits from her throat. He brings his arm up and awkwardly pats her shoulder in a calming manner. 

“It was about my mom.”

It takes a few moments to process, but then -

Oh. _Oh_.

“Oh,” he whispers, and Hinami flinches. Scrambling to say something else, he draws his hand back and makes a nervous hand gesture. “No, I didn’t mean to say that, I just -“

“All I can see when I fall asleep is her telling me to run, to live. It replays every single time, over and over again, and I…” she falters, but manages to keep talking. “I keep wondering if there was _something_ I could’ve done to save her.”

“Hinami, no,“ Kaneki protests, gripping her by the shoulders gently. “Hinami, there was nothing you could do. There were too many Doves; There was no way we would’ve been able to kill them, let alone even fight them.”

“But I should’ve at least tried. I did nothing. I let her die. It was my fault, I -“

Kaneki moves his hands to gently cup her face, staring at her with a pained expression. She hiccups again, and Kaneki lightly brushes her cheek with his thumb.

“Hinami. The last thing your mother would’ve wanted was for you to get injured. She wouldn’t have wanted you to fight for her. Her final wish was for you to continue on without her, despite how hard it is. You were everything to her,” he soothes. “Now you have to fulfill that wish and stay strong.”

Hinami lets out a strangled wail, and it takes all of his might not to crush her in a bear hug. She beats him to it.

She leans towards him and wraps her arms around his chest, snuggling closer and burying her face into his shirt. Kaneki is surprised, but he makes no attempt to remove her. 

“I miss her. I miss her a lot,” she cries, and Kaneki completes the hug by wrapping his arms around and embracing her. 

“It’s okay,” he coaxes. “It’s okay. Just sleep, alright? Everything is going to be okay now. I promise.” He rubs her back gently, setting his chin on top of her head, and stares at the door that leads into the hallway. He wonders if he should go and get Touka, or even the manager. But that would mean getting up, and he doesn’t want to disturb Hinami while she’s like this.

Slowly, her sobs turn to whimpers, and her breathing begins to slow; Kaneki feels his own eyes drooping, so he lays his head back on the armrest (careful to not jostle Hinami) and shuts his eyes. He’s on the verge of falling asleep when Hinami whispers:

“Did you have one too?”

“Hm?” he asks, opening one eye and and tilting his head at her. “Have what?”

“Nevermind,” she mumbles sleepily. He decides to leave it at that. Hinami shifts a little.

“Thank you,” she says. He doesn’t get to reply before he feels himself drift off, and everything turns dark. 

Blinking in confusion at Kaneki’s sudden silence, Hinami presses her ear to his chest. Hearing that his heart has slowed and his breathing is a steady rhythm, she finds that the half-ghoul is already asleep. She feels a giggle bubbling up in her chest, but she swallows it down to avoid waking him up. She looks up and studies his expression.

It looks strained, his eyebrows knitted together in concentration, and she thinks she can see his mouth moving as if he were speaking. She pats him on the back, like what he did with her, and the tension drains from his face slightly.

Suddenly, theres movement from under the blanket. At first she thinks it’s Kaneki shuffling in his sleep, but then she notices that he’s making relatively no movement.

And then something wraps around her.

Her blood runs cold, and she looks down slowly at what just wrapped around her, and -

…and then she breathes a sigh of relief, because it’s just a kagune. Kaneki’s kagune. She almost lets out a giddy laugh from the sheer thought of it.

_He hugged her. With his kagune._

(Just like mom, she thinks again.)

Instantly, she feels all her problems tumble away, and she relaxes. She closes her eyes and listens to the sound of Kaneki’s breathing ( _he’s there, he’s not going to go anywhere_ ) and she feels so safe wrapped by his arms and his kagune and ( _he said everything is going to be okay and it will be okay._ )

Before she knows it, sleep has already captured her.

\---

  
Touka isn’t sure what to think when she sees the two ghouls curled up on the couch like that. Her first thought is _Kaneki overslept so I should wake the idiot up_ but it quickly goes to _wait he’s hugging (with his…kagune?) Hinami_. 

Two sides of her personality are clashing. One side is saying “Oh man, that’s cute. That’s really cute. He’s comforting her,” while the other is screaming “Alright Kaneki wakey wakey we’ve got customers to serve and training to do.” She slaps both parts of her and puts on a stoic face.

She walks over to the two entangled ghouls (gosh, that’s adorable) and taps Kaneki on the shoulder. He’s snoring lightly, with a little bit of drool dripping from his mouth, and she rolls her eyes before lifting one of his eyelids. Instantly his body reacts by blinking wildly and slowly (keyword: _slowly_ ) waking up.

“Hhgh…what?” he mumbles, scrunching his eyebrows together and sitting up. He looks up at her, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, though he looks nowhere near fully awake. Absentmindedly, he reaches back to scratch his back.

“You overslept,” Touka says simply. “Make sure you get ready soon. Busy day today.”

Wait for it.

_It takes him a few seconds, but…_

Wait for it….

“I overslept?!” he nearly yells, and Touka leans back with mock surprise on her face. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”

Touka simply gestures towards Hinami, who had started to wake up, and Kaneki instantly looks guilty. Then he looks confused, because why does he have his kagune out? He retracts it, and Hinami makes a noise of protest. Kaneki awkwardly removes her arms from around him and disentangles himself, then pats her on the head.

“Sorry, Hinami! I need to get ready. Augh, sorry for waking you up!” he apologizes, and she shrugs a little before falling back asleep. 

“It's…”

\---

 

“…okay, big brother,” Hinami whispers, smiling lightly at Kaneki - no, it’s _Haise_ , she reminds herself - who stares back at her with confusion and sympathy on his face. He’s not any different from Kaneki; He has the same facial expressions and body language (still easy to read, she notes,) and she feels a pang of longing in her chest. 

_Everything is going to be okay now._

She remembers what he said. She’s not going to call him a liar. He’s still Kaneki, he just needs to _realize it-_

“I’m…sorry,” Haise whispers, looking down at his lap (that’s exactly like Kaneki, _exactly_ ) and frowning. “I’m sure Kaneki Ken was a great person. But I am Haise Sasaki.”

_No you’re not_ , Hinami thinks with frustration. _Why can’t he realize this, why can’t he remember?_

He promised. He _promised_.

**Author's Note:**

> I will kindly escort myself out now


End file.
